Work from home safety tips
Working at home vs in office setting is no zero risk situation. But what risks are those? And, more importantly, how can they be corrected to avoid accidents? By considering the basic work from home safety tips.
Accidents at work can occur because of two essential premises. First, unsafe conditions such as exposure to excessive noise, extreme levels of dust, fumes, gases and vapors or poor ventilation or lighting in the work area. Second, unsafe acts occur due to lack of training and lack of quality of products and operations. To avoid any accidents, here’s a working from home safety checklist that might interest you, based on practical experience.
Also, keep in mind that staying healthy will have a significant impact on your productivity. With the opportunity or obligation to work from home, it is important to highlight certain healthy habits to take care of our occupational health; for that reason, we also have some working from home safety tips regarding your health.
5 Working from home safety tips
1. Ergonomic workstation design
One of the most frequent risks of home teleworking is the lack of an ergonomic workplace adapted to the needs of the professional. For example, it has not been uncommon to find workers typing from bed or sofa. Laptops have also been seen leaning on the kitchen counter without legroom, on low tables in the living room that force the employee to stoop for hours, or supported by elements such as ironing boards or small surfaces where it is not possible to support the arms.
It is crucial that you have the right tools to work safely. This includes equipping the domestic ‘office’ with a wide table to support the elbows when writing, screens located high enough to avoid uncomfortable postures, a comfortable chair where to spend hours and other similar cut elements as needed—everything to avoid positions that can cause injury in the short, medium or long term.
Read more: Best Vertical Monitors for Home Use
Within the ergonomics of the workplace, lighting tends to be forgotten. However, it is one of the most important elements when creating a working space. Especially in the long term, when poor lighting can lead to serious illness.
2. Keep away the loose cables
When the job is at home, any mishap that has to do with your job activity or that is necessary for its performance will be considered a work accident. For example, tripping over a loose wire on the way to the bathroom or falling out of a chair.
To avoid tripping, it is important that the cables of the computers and other electrical elements are next to the walls or collected, so that you will not become entangled with them. It is also useful to keep them away from the places where people pass to avoid unexpected disconnections that damage the equipment and cause other types of accidents.
Keep your corridors clean. It is always better to sacrifice decorations for your well-being. The corridors through which people circulate must be clear, without ornaments, vases, furniture or chairs. This will prevent many accidents and avoid congestion. Also, keep in mind that heavy objects should always be located on the floor and not on high shelves, and drawers should remain closed. With these two simple actions, many accidents at your home office will be avoided.
More here on how to keep your home desk organized.
3. Let the air flow
Always look for ventilated places. Printers and photocopiers can release toxic substances from inks or toner, fortunately, the risks that this can bring to health are minimized by locating these devices in ventilated places and carrying out adequate cleaning. Sometimes, wanting to make the space look more beautiful, you hide them in corners or closed rooms and this is not a good idea.
Make sure you have the ideal temperature for your workspace. When people work in spaces that are too hot, they fatigue very quickly, they do not concentrate as well and they can suffer sudden changes in temperature when moving from one place to another, which can be harmful to their health. On the other hand, very cold spaces, in addition to generating colds, prevent people from feeling safe, relaxed and willing to work. It is important to keep your home office at a temperature where taking off a jacket or putting on a jacket is sufficient to feel comfortable.
4. Move your body
Move. It is important to stretch your legs, walk if possible, stretch, allow your body to position itself. Take advantage of a call to stand up, even if you think it’s going to be long. Why not take a walk around the house?
Take care of your diet. There’s no place like home, but you have to take care of it and yourself. Do not leave self care aside when working from home. Focus on it and focus on yourself. Eat healthy and varied to maintain your energy levels. Do not eat in front of the computer, change the environment.
Take care of relationships also remotely, have a coffee, take a break with a partner who fits you, generate conversation parallel to work, and so on. Resting is not just stopping work for 5 minutes.
Beware of limiting or dangerous beliefs. “You work when you want”, “You cannot control remote work” “it is not real work”. Stay tuned because you can hear these types of phrases these days, and surely it comes from people who have not worked remotely or have not known how to take advantage of it.
5. Cybersecurity has never been more crucial.
Don’t let your guard down. Sometimes a very convincing and malicious message will infiltrate your email. This is especially relevant for those who work remotely because the amount of digital communications increases markedly with remote working. Therefore, read the messages carefully and do not rush to reply to them. If someone urgently needs an important document or demands immediate payment of an invoice, check that they are who they say they are. Don’t be afraid to call the other parties involved to clarify or confirm this order once again with your boss.
Be especially suspicious of email messages with links. If a link to a supposed document does not point to a corporate resource, better forget about it. If everything looks correct and the link opens a site similar to, say, OneDrive, do not enter your login credentials there. It’s best to type the OneDrive address into your browser, sign in, and try to open the file again.
Conclusion
Forewarned is forearmed, says popular wisdom; that is why adequate security in offices is the best tool to avoid accidents and make your work area safe and make you feel protected. Follow these safety tips for working from home and you’ll have a safe work-from-home environment.
